Goulet was being investigated for a misdemeanor sexual assault against one of his co-workers, and Det. Loran Butch Baker and Det. Elizabeth Butler had no reason to suspect he was dangerous when they went to his home at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Wowak said.

But while the detectives were at his door trying to convince him to come out and talk, the 35-year-old man crept through a different exit and took the veteran crime fighters by surprise. He opened fire with a .45 caliber handgun and Butler and Baker died on the doorstep.

There were several bystanders on Doyle Street when the intense shootout broke out and firefighters likely saved lives by diving on top of bystanders and quickly ushering them to safety while SCPD officers and sheriff's deputies while Goulet met a violent demise.

In addition to the detectives' guns, Goulet also had his passport and an airplane ticket to New Mexico with him when he was killed.

Goulet was fired from The Kind Grind coffee shop in the Santa Cruz harbor on Saturday after his co-worker filed a police report against him for showing up at her home and making sexual advances toward her. The detectives were trying to get Goulet's side of the story about the sexual assault when they were slain, Wowak said.

Goulet's home sits just outside the back gate of Midtown Montessori preschool, owned by Donna Saffren. She saw Butler and Baker wearing plain clothes and carrying guns outside her gate.

"(Butler) seemed as if she was trying to get the guy to come to the front door," Saffren told the Associated Press. "It was an intense situation. They had their hands on their guns."